Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie are navigating an “impossible position” with their public roles, royal commentator Richard Fitzwilliams has claimed.
On Friday, January 30, the US Department of Justice published more than three million pages of additional material linked to the Jeffrey Epstein investigation following a court-ordered disclosure process.
The newly released tranche prompted fresh scrutiny regarding Andrew Mountbatten-Windsor’s ties to the late convicted sex offender, and also brought Princess Beatrice and Princess Eugenie into the spotlight after both sisters were referenced in the documents.
Being named in the files does not imply wrongdoing, and being pictured in them is not proof of any misconduct.
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Sources speaking to the Daily Mail claimed the sisters were “mortified” by the revelations, with one insider quoted as describing the material as “so embarrassing for them”.
Mr Fitzwilliams told GB News the sisters’ public appearances and absences are frequently interpreted through the lens of the controversy surrounding their father, even when private family dynamics remain unknown.
He told the People's Channel: “What is done publicly is done for a certain effect.”
Beatrice, 37, has been pictured frequently in recent weeks, including being photographed in Switzerland around the World Economic Forum in Davos on January 23, where she met the Secretary-General of the Muslim World League, Sheikh Dr Mohammed Al-Issa.
Eugenie and Beatrice navigating ‘impossible position’ as public roles diverge
|INSTAGRAM: PRINCESS EUGENIE
She also recently went horse-riding with Andrew on the Windsor estate, alongside her daughter, Sienna. By contrast, Eugenie has maintained a lower public profile.
Mr Fitzwilliams suggested public appearances are often shaped by optics rather than private reality.
Reports previously circulated suggesting Eugenie had cut off contact with her father, though there has been no confirmation of this.
Mr Fitzwilliams argued such claims are impossible to verify and should not be taken at face value.
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Andrew pictured with his daughters, Princesses Beatrice and Eugenie
| GETTY“I read Eugenie has cut her father off, and Beatrice, of course, has been pictured with him and her daughter,” he told the People’s Channel.
“To what extent the cutting off is true, to what extent they talk on the phone, to what extent they don’t – we simply don’t know.”
He added that silence should not be treated as proof of estrangement, drawing comparisons with long-running speculation about other royal relationships.
“It’s rather like William and Harry,” Mr Fitzwilliams said. “We don’t actually know what goes on behind the scenes.”
Mr Fitzwilliams stressed that both sisters have increased their charitable activity over the past year and remain focused on their own causes, despite differing levels of visibility.
He said: “They both have new charities, and it’s significant that they want to continue that work.”
Beatrice took on new charitable roles in 2025, including being named patron of Borne, which funds research into the causes of premature birth, and being appointed Deputy Patron of the Outward Bound Trust in November.
Eugenie, best known for co-founding The Anti-Slavery Collective in 2017, has continued expanding her public-facing commitments through patronage work and mentoring.
In October 2025, she was announced as patron of Artswork, a youth-focused UK charity, and she also began carrying out mentoring work with The King’s Foundation’s 35 under 35 initiative.
Mr Fitzwilliams suggested their respective approaches reflect circumstance rather than conflict.
“They are both in an utterly impossible position,” he said, referring to the ongoing impact of the controversy surrounding their father.
“They have families, they have jobs, and they are trying to navigate that.”